Fertility & birth rates in Japan and New Zealand

Fertility rate in Japan vs New Zealand chart

According to the latest available data on birth rates, the fertility rate in Japan was 1.2 children per woman in 2023, compared to 1.56 in New Zealand in 2023. The replacement level is considered to be 2.1 children per woman.

Check Japan vs New Zealand population clock for a dynamic visualization of the changing population.

The chart below showcases historical changes in the birth rates.

Table

Year	Fertility rate
	Japan	New Zealand
1960	2	4.24
1961	1.96	4.31
1962	1.98	4.19
1963	2	4.05
1964	2.05	3.8
1965	2.14	3.54
1966	1.58	3.41
1967	2.23	3.35
1968	2.13	3.34
1969	2.13	3.28
1970	2.13	3.17
1971	2.16	3.18
1972	2.14	3
1973	2.14	2.76
1974	2.05	2.58
1975	1.91	2.37
1976	1.85	2.27
1977	1.8	2.21
1978	1.79	2.07
1979	1.77	2.12
1980	1.75	2.03
1981	1.74	2.01
1982	1.77	1.95
1983	1.8	1.92
1984	1.81	1.93
1985	1.76	1.93
1986	1.72	1.96
1987	1.69	2.03
1988	1.66	2.1
1989	1.57	2.12
1990	1.54	2.18
1991	1.53	2.09
1992	1.5	2.06
1993	1.46	2.04
1994	1.5	1.98
1995	1.42	1.98
1996	1.43	1.96
1997	1.39	1.96
1998	1.38	1.89
1999	1.34	1.97
2000	1.36	1.98
2001	1.33	1.97
2002	1.32	1.89
2003	1.29	1.93
2004	1.29	1.98
2005	1.26	1.97
2006	1.32	2.01
2007	1.34	2.18
2008	1.37	2.19
2009	1.37	2.13
2010	1.39	2.17
2011	1.39	2.09
2012	1.41	2.1
2013	1.43	2.01
2014	1.42	1.92
2015	1.45	1.99
2016	1.44	1.87
2017	1.43	1.81
2018	1.42	1.71
2019	1.36	1.72
2020	1.33	1.61
2021	1.3	1.64
2022	1.26	1.66
2023	1.2	1.56
2024	1.21	1.55
2025	1.22	1.54
2026	1.22	1.53
2027	1.23	1.53
2028	1.24	1.52
2029	1.25	1.52
2030	1.25	1.52
2031	1.26	1.52
2032	1.26	1.52
2033	1.27	1.51
2034	1.28	1.51
2035	1.28	1.51
2036	1.29	1.51
2037	1.29	1.51
2038	1.3	1.51
2039	1.3	1.51
2040	1.3	1.51
2041	1.31	1.51
2042	1.31	1.51
2043	1.31	1.51
2044	1.32	1.51
2045	1.32	1.51
2046	1.33	1.51
2047	1.33	1.51
2048	1.33	1.51
2049	1.34	1.51
2050	1.34	1.51

Children 0-14 years as share of population

Table

Year	Share of people 0-14 years old
	Japan	New Zealand
1960	29.8%	32.8%
1961	29.1%	33%
1962	28%	33%
1963	26.8%	32.9%
1964	25.8%	32.9%
1965	25.1%	32.7%
1966	24.4%	32.6%
1967	23.8%	32.5%
1968	23.5%	32.3%
1969	23.4%	32.2%
1970	23.3%	31.9%
1971	23.3%	31.7%
1972	23.4%	31.4%
1973	23.6%	31%
1974	23.8%	30.5%
1975	23.8%	30.1%
1976	23.9%	29.6%
1977	23.9%	29%
1978	23.8%	28.4%
1979	23.7%	27.8%
1980	23.4%	27.2%
1981	23.3%	26.7%
1982	23.1%	26.2%
1983	22.6%	25.6%
1984	22.2%	25.1%
1985	21.7%	24.6%
1986	21%	24.2%
1987	20.3%	23.8%
1988	19.5%	23.5%
1989	18.8%	23.3%
1990	18%	23.3%
1991	17.4%	23.2%
1992	16.9%	23.1%
1993	16.4%	23.1%
1994	16%	23.1%
1995	15.6%	23.1%
1996	15.3%	23%
1997	15.1%	23%
1998	14.8%	23%
1999	14.6%	22.9%
2000	14.4%	22.8%
2001	14.2%	22.6%
2002	14.1%	22.4%
2003	13.9%	22.1%
2004	13.8%	21.8%
2005	13.8%	21.5%
2006	13.7%	21.3%
2007	13.6%	21.1%
2008	13.5%	21%
2009	13.5%	20.9%
2010	13.4%	20.9%
2011	13.3%	20.8%
2012	13.2%	20.6%
2013	13.1%	20.4%
2014	13%	20.2%
2015	12.8%	19.9%
2016	12.7%	19.6%
2017	12.6%	19.5%
2018	12.5%	19.3%
2019	12.4%	19.2%
2020	12.2%	19%
2021	12%	18.9%
2022	11.9%	18.6%
2023	11.6%	18.4%
2024	11.4%	18.1%
2025	11.2%	17.9%
2026	11%	17.6%
2027	10.9%	17.4%
2028	10.7%	17.2%
2029	10.5%	17%
2030	10.4%	16.8%
2031	10.3%	16.6%
2032	10.2%	16.4%
2033	10.1%	16.3%
2034	10.1%	16.1%
2035	10.1%	16%
2036	10.1%	15.9%
2037	10.1%	15.8%
2038	10.2%	15.7%
2039	10.3%	15.6%
2040	10.4%	15.5%
2041	10.5%	15.4%
2042	10.6%	15.4%
2043	10.7%	15.4%
2044	10.8%	15.3%
2045	10.9%	15.3%
2046	11%	15.3%
2047	11.1%	15.3%
2048	11.2%	15.3%
2049	11.2%	15.2%
2050	11.2%	15.2%

Children aged 0-14 make up 11.4% of the population in Japan and 18.1% in New Zealand in 2024, compared to 18% and 23.3% respectively in 1990.

Demographics of Japan and New Zealand compared.

Natural population change in Japan vs New Zealand by year

For the past 10 years, the annual natural population change (excluding migration) has been -0.41% in Japan and +0.51% in New Zealand. The chart below illustrates the comparison of the absolute yearly changes resulting from births and deaths.

Table

Year	Population change due to births and deaths
	Japan	New Zealand
1960	894,874	41,791
1961	893,522	43,482
1962	901,864	42,865
1963	987,770	42,027
1964	1,046,553	39,375
1965	1,126,448	36,982
1966	682,072	36,151
1967	1,258,475	37,974
1968	1,191,930	37,594
1969	1,195,962	38,098
1970	1,230,496	37,101
1971	1,331,782	40,000
1972	1,372,006	38,244
1973	1,391,449	35,239
1974	1,332,960	33,896
1975	1,204,989	31,355
1976	1,127,750	29,456
1977	1,070,397	28,020
1978	1,011,234	26,156
1979	950,298	26,675
1980	864,372	23,658
1981	811,861	25,374
1982	805,664	24,207
1983	775,495	24,315
1984	756,523	26,043
1985	676,687	24,126
1986	631,706	25,549
1987	598,138	27,603
1988	527,085	29,846
1989	467,662	30,749
1990	407,478	33,298
1991	396,685	33,518
1992	360,833	32,067
1993	312,073	31,685
1994	363,017	30,372
1995	276,039	29,828
1996	314,392	28,997
1997	277,325	30,137
1998	265,440	29,146
1999	202,610	28,916
2000	228,317	29,897
2001	203,438	27,939
2002	178,423	25,941
2003	114,946	28,150
2004	76,656	29,634
2005	-25,554	30,674
2006	12,785	30,924
2007	-25,600	35,480
2008	-51,225	35,143
2009	-76,828	33,560
2010	-128,070	35,458
2011	-204,533	31,302
2012	-229,733	31,077
2013	-242,146	29,096
2014	-267,279	26,196
2015	-292,424	29,408
2016	-343,106	28,237
2017	-406,310	26,282
2018	-456,520	24,797
2019	-531,858	25,344
2020	-542,923	24,993
2021	-640,976	23,767
2022	-825,825	20,264
2023	-871,617	19,039

Maternal mortality chart: Japan vs New Zealand

The maternal mortality rate, which is the probability of dying during childbirth or within 42 days of pregnancy termination, is 3 deaths per 100,000 live births in Japan, compared to 7 deaths in New Zealand.

Table

Year	Maternal mortality per 100K births
	Japan	New Zealand
1985	19	19
1986	18	18
1987	17	19
1988	16	19
1989	15	18
1990	14	18
1991	13	16
1992	13	15
1993	12	14
1994	11	13
1995	11	14
1996	11	14
1997	10	13
1998	10	12
1999	9	12
2000	9	11
2001	8	10
2002	8	11
2003	8	11
2004	7	11
2005	7	11
2006	7	10
2007	6	10
2008	6	10
2009	6	10
2010	6	10
2011	6	10
2012	6	9
2013	5	8
2014	5	7
2015	5	8
2016	5	8
2017	5	8
2018	5	7
2019	5	8
2020	4	8
2021	4	8
2022	5	23
2023	3	7

Under-five mortality rates

The chance that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five is 0.24% in Japan and 0.47% in New Zealand. Below is the historical data on under-five mortality rates.

Table

Year	Mortality rate before reaching 5 years of age, per 1,000 live births
	Japan	New Zealand
1960	3.97%	2.78%
1961	3.62%	2.68%
1962	3.29%	2.58%
1963	2.98%	2.48%
1964	2.7%	2.39%
1965	2.46%	2.31%
1966	2.26%	2.25%
1967	2.1%	2.2%
1968	1.96%	2.16%
1969	1.85%	2.12%
1970	1.75%	2.08%
1971	1.65%	2.03%
1972	1.57%	1.98%
1973	1.49%	1.94%
1974	1.41%	1.88%
1975	1.33%	1.83%
1976	1.25%	1.77%
1977	1.18%	1.71%
1978	1.11%	1.66%
1979	1.05%	1.61%
1980	0.99%	1.56%
1981	0.93%	1.52%
1982	0.88%	1.48%
1983	0.83%	1.45%
1984	0.79%	1.41%
1985	0.75%	1.38%
1986	0.71%	1.34%
1987	0.68%	1.29%
1988	0.66%	1.24%
1989	0.64%	1.18%
1990	0.63%	1.12%
1991	0.62%	1.06%
1992	0.61%	1%
1993	0.6%	0.95%
1994	0.59%	0.91%
1995	0.57%	0.87%
1996	0.55%	0.84%
1997	0.52%	0.81%
1998	0.5%	0.78%
1999	0.47%	0.76%
2000	0.45%	0.74%
2001	0.43%	0.72%
2002	0.41%	0.7%
2003	0.4%	0.69%
2004	0.39%	0.67%
2005	0.37%	0.66%
2006	0.36%	0.65%
2007	0.35%	0.65%
2008	0.34%	0.64%
2009	0.34%	0.63%
2010	0.33%	0.62%
2011	0.33%	0.61%
2012	0.31%	0.6%
2013	0.3%	0.59%
2014	0.29%	0.57%
2015	0.28%	0.56%
2016	0.27%	0.55%
2017	0.26%	0.53%
2018	0.25%	0.52%
2019	0.25%	0.51%
2020	0.24%	0.5%
2021	0.24%	0.49%
2022	0.24%	0.48%
2023	0.24%	0.47%